Memorandum 42
Submission from the London Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(LCCI) welcome the opportunity to make its views clear on funding
for Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQs).
Our organisation represents 3,000 businesses
across London including a wide range of higher education institutions.
We run a proactive Skills and Employment Forum that meets quarterly
to decide all aspects of LCCI educational policy and therefore
we feel that we are well placed to comment on the government's
proposed funding changes for ELQs.
We are concerned that the phasing out of support
for ELQs will adversely affect all higher education institutions
within our membership and Birkbeck, University of London, in particular.
These institutions will now be forced to provide far less flexibility
and choice to their students, and in many cases, education providers
will have to cope with a direct cut in their operating budgets.
Beyond the adverse affects on educational institutions,
the changes in support for ELQs will have a negative impact on
London's businesses. LCCI members continually tell us that one
of the biggest problems they face running their business is trying
to find people with the right skills and qualifications. Reducing
support for ELQs will inevitably discourage people from re-skilling
or seeking additional qualifications because of this further barrier
to learning new skills. This will mean that London's workforce
will be less responsive to the demands of employers which will
in turn exacerbate skills shortages and will make for less productive
businesses in the capital.
The LCCI has been broadly supportive of the
government's skills agenda but the reform of ELQs as proposed,
will cause us to question the government's commitment to making
the UK a leader in world class skills. ELQs are exactly the kind
of courses that the government should be actively encouraging
as one of a number of avenues for upskilling the UK workforce.
We urge the government to rethink its reform of ELQs and drop
the plans to reduce support for it. As a bare minimum the government
must delay the implementation of the policy until the full repercussions
can be considered. If however the government insists on pressing
ahead with these changes, we think certain key vocational subjects
such as IT, Economics, Management and Law must be from exempt
ELQ policy.
We appreciate the Innovation, Universities and
Skills Committee conducting an enquiry into the reform of ELQs
and we would be would be happy to provide further evidence should
you require it.
January 2008
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